2013 will be the year of the 5-inch smartphones, new report says

Small-sized smartphones are so last year. According to a new report, some major players in the mobile market have bigger plans for 2013.

Industry sources have allegedly told DigiTimes that Samsung, Sony, LG, Huawei, and ZTE are planning to launch smartphones with full HD 5-inch displays come next year. Little information has been revealed, but these theoretical handsets are expected to be released in the first half of 2013.

Samsung and LG will allegedly produce these panels in house, while Sony Mobile will obtain them from Japan Display (JDI), in which it holds a stake. Smartphone vendors based in China and Taiwan can purchase full HD panels from JDI, Sharp, or LG, the source said to DigiTimes.

If these rumors turn out to be correct, these manufacturers will follow in the footsteps of vendors such as HTC and Sharp. HTC just launched its Butterfly smartphone with a 5-inch full HD display panel from JDI, featuring 440 pixels per inch. Sharp also released the Aquos SH930W earlier this year, which comes equipped with a 5-inch panel packing 443 pixels per inch.

This news from DigiTimes lines up with plans that Japan Display announced earlier this year. Back in October, the company revealed that its massive joint venture, which consists of Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi, began mass production of a 5-inch 1,080-pixel screen bound for smartphones in the future, CNET reported.

While some manufacturers are still accustomed to implementing smaller displays in their smartphones, Samsung is no stranger to lengthier screens. Its recently launched Galaxy Note 2 comes with a 5.5-inch OLED display and is primarily marketed as a smartphone-tablet hybrid. The original Galaxy Note sported a whopping 5.3-inch display – the first of that size for Samsung. It’s widely successful flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S3, features a 4.8-inch display, which is about .3 inches larger than its predecessor’s 4.52- inch screen.

Perhaps this tip from DigiTimes is an indicator that the highly rumored Galaxy S4 will come with a 5-inch display, but until the company makes this information known it can only be considered speculation.